No compromise here
The Fresh Olive Oil Club was founded to supply Members with the worlds most exquisite fresh olive oils following the harvests around the globe as they happen. The Trail Master tastes, selects the best and delivers them to Members.
Tasting the Difference - Fresh Olive Oil - By Rosanna Holmes, Fosse way Magazine
"I am getting big green ripe tomatoes, apples, almonds, and cinnamon
spice on the sides," Michael North raves, as he tastes an eight week-old
single estate from Portugal. We are sitting in his living room, boxes bearing
the name Quienta Vale de Lobos stacked in the middle – Michael is teaching
me how to taste olive oil. "Just from tasting it, I can tell how old
an oil is, the variety, the country it came from, and whether it was picked
early or late," he tells me.
This one is a blend of Arbequina and Cobrancosa and its place of origin,
the Portuguese name on the bottle, is a family-owned estate 70km north of
Lisbon. It was harvested earlier this year and is as fresh as you get. I
curiously follow Michael’s instructions, take up the taster cup, cup it
in my palm and put my other hand over the top. Swirl. The oil has to be warmed,
Michael tells me, to release the bouquet. Smell. I lean forward and sniff. Yes,
there are the green tomatoes and almonds. I am momentarily transported to
a warm evening among the olive groves and market gardens in a far off Mediterranean
country.
"
The olive drinks its atmosphere," Michael explains. "You can ruin
olives by walking through a grove with a lighted cigarette." Taste.
It is creamy and there are fresh tomatoes. Yes, now the spice. "Each
variety has a different pepper finish in a different spot in your mouth," explains
Michael. Did I know there were twice as many varieties of olives as grapes?
No, didn’t think so. Not many people know that.
Is there a best oil in the world?
"
There is no such thing," says Michael, "It can be any one that is
treated with love and care."
Michael moved to Frome from Bloomsbury, London, in February 2006.
He had wanted a change and already had a lot of customers in this part
of the world.
Moving the business The Olive Trail from a shop in the capital, he
is now operating from home to bring the best, freshest oil
in the World to food lovers in Somerset.
So why olive oil?
"
We lived in Greece for five years," says Michael. "Living in the olive
groves and drinking the fresh fruit juice, as that is what it is, was gorgeous.
When we came back I bought some and it wasn’t the same. It was still
oil, but somehow different. I had been tasting oils all around the Med for
years assuming that ours was just as good, but oils in British shops are
not quite the same.
Then it struck him. "I looked at the date on the bottle. It was the
bottling date and not the harvest date. I thought perhaps it was stale."
Back to the tasting.
Michael hands me a taster cup containing a supermarket brand oil. We carry out
the same procedure.
"
It smells like oil," says Michael. "But engine oil? It is flat, has
no flavour - is lacklustre.
"
The spice is all over the place, which means the acidity level is high and
it is stale. It must be three or four years old." He says that while
60 per cent of oil is made in Spain and 17 per cent in Italy, all the surplus
oil in Spain, Greece and 
Tunisia goes to Italy. So in fact 80 per cent of
the world’s oil eventually comes from Italy. There it is blended and
packed. It is around three years old before it arrives in the UK. This is
why Michael decided to embark on his new venture and import the finest, freshest
oil as it is made.
"
If it is fresh it has the good things that are good for you. The bits that
are good for you escape with age. Oil will suddenly go. You’ve got
to keep tasting your oil. When it goes off, chuck it or use it as a polish
on wood furniture. I would never dream of using it on food." He follows
the harvest, travelling out to small family-run mills to taste the oil before
buying a batch to ship back.
The first harvest of 2007 was in Spain and Portugal, hence the Portuguese
bottle. South Africa has the next harvest in a month’s time, and then
it is on to Western Australia and New Zealand. For the last quarter, Michael
will be back in the Med in the depths of Italy hunting out the "gorgeous
stuff" in less well-known regions.
Oil varies between sweet, medium and robust, he tells me. It should always
be extra virgin, as this is the pure, natural fruit juice.
"
All the different varieties make up different flavours. From something as
sweet as butter to something very strong."
To complement the beautiful olive oil, Michael also sells aged balsamic vinegars.
Where it is important to have olive oil fresh, balsamic, one of its best
accompaniments, is like wine – so the older the better. They have their
own vinegar bottled, called Black Gold, which is over 12 years old, and Black
Gold Junior, which is over five years old.
A fan of olive oil and balsamic – I regularly buy a crusty loaf and
polish it off with a dipping session – I was alarmed to find that what
I thought were pure products that could not be messed with were not quite
so.
"
If any balsamic has more than two 
ingredients, don’t buy it," says
Michael. "It should only have cooked grape must and wine vinegar. Better
if only cooked grape must." He
studies the ingredients of an £8 bottle from a supermarket. As well
as the first two ingredients, it has concentrated grape must, caramel, antioxidant,
sulphur dioxide, and contains sulphites.
"
It has been bulked out," says Michael. "Otherwise people wouldn’t
buy it because it would be too expensive. They have watered it down and adjusted
it, so you end up with something entirely different." So enthused by
olive oil, Michael has started an exclusive club. Members, who are all over
the world, get the best of the best – the speciality oils. He also
sells olive oil soap and body lotions, medicinal olive leaf elixir and tea,
olive wood bowls and other items he as hand carved personally.
You can also throw an olive oil tasting party, a “Get Fresh” event,
where Michael will give tastings and party hosts earn a cut.
The tea and elixir is available at Frome Wholefood Shop, Verbena Sherborne
and Michael trades at Wells market every Wednesday and Saturday. To find out
more, phone Michael on 01373 471836 or 07956564846, or go to www.theolivetrail.com,
or email.
TIP: Oil should be kept in small, dark glass bottles. Light will spoil it.
If you have a large tin of oil, get it into dark bottles as quickly as possible
and use within 12 weeks.
The Olive Trail deliver worldwide.
